Hero Arts Winter 2020 Release Blog Hop + GIVEAWAY

Hi friends! I'm so excited to be part of an amazing blog hop celebrating the release of the Winter 2020 Catalog from Hero Arts! There's a host of fabulous stamping inspiration in store along the hop, plus there will be THREE comment winners! Yay! If you're just popping in, be sure to start from the beginning, so you don't miss a thing. If you've been hopping about already, you probably arrived from the incomparable Jennifer McGuire's blog. The full hop list can be found later in this post.

The winter catalog is absolutely gorgeous! Swoon! I had a hard time narrowing my choices down, but finally settled on two new stamp/die combos and a fancy die to highlight today.

My first card features the adorable Cozy Town Stamp & Die Combo. Aren't these little buildings just the cutest? I decided to stamp them all out and color them in a pastel  palette for a fun look.  After die cutting, I added a little "snow" to the roofs and steps with precision glue and Icicle glitter. Love the sparkly look.  I couldn't decide which of all the fabulous building to use, so I went for a slimline design so I could fit in as many as I could.  To give them a snowy backdrop, I cut one of the Tri-fold Edge Winter Pine Fancy Dies twice from white cardstock and then lined them up on adhesive foam tape.  I then glued my stamped and colored buildings, being sure to cover the seam where the two fancy die cuts met.

Next I took a panel of arctic cardstock and lightly sponged with soft pool ink and then flicked with white glimmer metallic ink for a snowy look.  The sentiment is stamped in black and I added a thin mat of pitch black cardstock to frame the scene.

For my second card, I chose the Stocking Bouquet Stamp & Die Combo. I just love this little stocking and all the little accoutrements.  This would be a perfect wreath building set, too.  I stamped out all the images, colored, and then cut with the coordinating dies.  I added a few accents with a crystal clear lacquer pen and then layered together, making a slit in the stocking top with my x-acto knife to tuck them in.

The sentiment is embossed with red embossing powder onto a white circle die cut and framed with the gorgeous new Snowflake Medallion Fancy Die.  Isn't it spectacular? I accented with a few swarovski crystals and set aside to work on the background. I started with cherry cardstock, and stamped the Graphic Snowflake Bold Prints in clear embossing & watermark ink.  I wanted a kind of blizzardy look, so I poured the embossing ink over the whole area, then brushed away unevenly around the edges and embossed.  I then added embossing powder to the areas I had brushed away, and since my brushing had smudged the ink a little I achieved the blizzardy effect I was going for. A super fun, easy way to get a snowy look.

For my final card, I just had to make a snowglobe shaker.  When I was little, I always asked for snowglobes for Christmas.  It was so magical watching the snow "fall".  I had one with a little church scene, so I thought the church from the Cozy Town set would be perfect paired with the Snowflake Medallion Fancy Die for a little shaker.  I removed the outer circle frame from the fancy die and taped together with a larger die from the Infinity Circles set to create a thick enough border to be able to hide the foam tape when I made the shaker.  I then added a piece of acetate and filled my shaker with icicle glitter and then backed with vellum.  I love the way it looks laying flat, so I'd suggest if you make on like this, you add some glitter to the backing so that there will be glitter when it stands.  I worked around this after the fact by adding some dots of precision glue to the top of the acetate and sprinkling with more glitter.  It's super sparkly!

I added some trees and the church to accent my snowy scene.  Then I simply cut a couple of strips of pitch black cardstock and rounded the top corners of each.  I embossed the sentiment in white on the bottom panel, then smudged unicorn pigment ink with my fingers to tone down the black.  The card base is embossed with a swiss dots folder for a subtle snowy effect.

Well, there you have my first few Christmas cards of the season. This release is so much fun, and I hope you were inspired by my makes.  Be sure to check out all of the fabulous designers below for their creations, and leave a little comment love for a chance to win!

Next on the hop is Lisa Stein.

GIVEAWAY:  Hero Arts will give away three $50 gift cards, drawn from the comments left across the hop. Enter by leaving a comment between now and Sunday, September 6th at 11:59pm Pacific, and the winner will be announced on the Hero Arts blog the following week. Here's the hop list:

Hero Arts
Channin Pelletier
Daniel West
Debi Adams
Emily Midgett
Ilina Crouse
Jessica Frost-Ballas
Libby Hickson
Lydia Fiedler
Maria Willis
Michelle Short
Mindy Eggen
Seeka
Amy Kolling
Cathy Zielske
Janette Kausen
Jenn Shurkus
Jennifer McGuire
Julee Tilman ✋That's me!
Lisa Stein
Lori Craig
Mariana Grigsby
Nichol Spohr
Nina-Marie Trapani
Teri Anderson
Wanda Guess

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